ASSESSING ENGLISH SPEAKING PERFORMANCE

In this talk I consider the ways in which we can assess student performance when speaking in English, as well as what might be suitable speaking tasks. We start by looking at the IELTS Speaking Test (one component of the IELTS Test) which is used worldwide to assess candidate speaking proficiency, reporting on the findings of 4 funded projects. I explain what happens in the 3 parts of the Speaking Test and how performance is assessed. Adopting a Conversation Analysis (CA) perspective, findings are presented on the organisation of turn-taking, sequence, repair, and topic development in relation to the institutional goal. The importance of topic development is stressed. We look at the relationship between features of candidate talk and score. We then discuss some of the alternatives for delivery of speaking assessment, including students talking in pairs, online and computer-based assessment. I report on an IELTS project in which candidates asked questions to examiners. Finally we look at two apps which provide tasks for pair-work interaction, Linguacuisine and ENACT.
Bibliography Seedhouse, P. & Nakatsuhara, F. (2018). The Discourse of the IELTS Speaking Test: Interactional Design and Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.